Occupy pet stores

I cannot walk into the Colonie Center Macy’s from the mall entrance, or walk out into the mall from Macy’s, with my eyes fully open. Or, I have to completely divert my eyes from the pet store — Everything Pets — that’s tucked away right next door.

Makes me sick. Especially the sign touting they carry “local puppies” and the banner saying they’ll finance up to $5,000 for a puppy.

Years and years and years ago, I remember gazing at this little fluffy, white Maltese puppy I was holding, and trying to talk my mother into getting him. I even named him Franklin — no idea why. I cried when I had to give him back.

And, I remember crying, not because I couldn’t have a puppy (I ventured in there on my own while my mom was shopping at a nearby store), but because I was scared for his future. I knew he didn’t look completely well — none of the pups did — and I worried what might happen to him. I figured if he came home with me, at least I would love him and take care of him until he met whatever fate was in store for him.

Since that day, I’ve hated pet stores. And, my hatred grew the more I learned about them over the years.

It’s no secret pet stores sell puppies from puppy mills. And, it’s also no secret that puppy mill puppies — and the dogs used to breed — are mistreated and abused beyond belief. Moxie’s foster mom (and “Auntie”) is also my dear friend. She’s also mom to Henry. Henry was used for breeding at a puppy mill. Here’s his story, in brief:

Henry was rescued from a puppy mill in Alabama in Feb 2010. He lived outside, with a crate the only thing to protect him from extreme heat and sun. When the woman running the mill heard that the police were preparing to raid her mill, she took around 70 of the dogs (including Henry) to the local shelter to try to avoid getting caught. A local rescue in Albany drove their RV down there and took about 10 of the dogs. Henry was the most emotionally damaged and the last to be adopted out of the group.

He went into foster care for 3 months. He shook and stayed in the same position for nearly a month. He was terrified of everything. He didn’t know how to eat out of a bowl, how to play with a toy, or how to potty outside.

I adopted him 3 months later. He is missing teeth from poor nutrition, he has unexplained bald patches due to abuse/neglect, and he still carries emotional scars. He is very wary of new people and new situations. If faced with something he perceives as scary (it could be something as little as a man holding his hand to greet him gently), it could cause him to pace nervously or run away and hide.

Despite his sad story, he has made huge progress. He enjoys walks at the park, he has lots of dog friends he plays with regularly, and now knows the love of a warm home with a soft bed and nutritious food. His life is filled with so much joy, and we are able to work around his limitations due to his emotional damage. He is the sweetest, most affectionate dog, who sleeps so soundly and peacefully.

So, sometimes, depending if I feel like torturing myself or not, I will gaze over to see if people are going into and coming out of Everything Pets. And, I either get really angry or really sad. Sometimes both. Because, by supporting that pet store, whether people are buying an animal or accessory (I think some people view those two things as being one in the same), they’re helping to keep puppy mills in business.

There are so many rescue organizations in this area that I can’t imagine someone not adopting a pet from one.

Rescue a dog. It’ll cost you much less, and the rewards are much greater.

52 Responses

Well said, Amanda. I wholeheartedly agree. Both my parents have rescue dogs and they are the sweetest dogs ever. I can’t fathom paying $5,000 for a “premium” dog when there are tons of dogs waiting to be adopted.

I HATE that pet store. I think it was 2006 or 2007 that I was in there staring at the puppies (torturing myself) and contemplating buying a toy for my own dog. A tiny Pekinese was scratching and biting at the latch in the back of his crate when he got something in or near his mouth caught on it. The poor thing was screaming like a wounded child. This went on for all of 10 seconds when I stormed to the front of the store and informed the clerk that was STILL standing at his register that he needed to go help the dog immediately. He had no customers but took his time going to the back to rescue the dog. He brought the little guy out to show me that he was “fine” (probably so I wouldn’t call his boss or PETA) and the poor thing was traumatized. Shaking and staring glassy-eyed at nothing. It was awful. I think I was equally traumatized from the experience.

I did pay for both of my puppies but bought them from irresponsible Chihuahua owners who had failed to separate their dogs when the females were in heat. Both owners (they were unrelated as this was nearly 5 years apart in 2 different cities) were relieved to find homes for the puppies and swore they were getting their females fixed. I love my dogs more than anything but will never pay for another pet again (unless it’s an adoption fee).

Amanda- We met briefly last week in PetSmart due to my Cairn Terrier’s resemblance to Moxie. I bought her at this very same pet store you speak of because I noticed she was facing away from everyone, was seriously underweight, and had a “clearance” sign on her crate. I immediately knew that she was my dog and I had to get her out of there. She was 3 months at the time and after being very sick for a few months, she finally began to put on weight and hold down food more regularly. She is now 7 years old and my best friend in the world. She definitely has some psychological “issues” indicative of puppy mill dogs and she weighs about 5 lbs. less than the average adult Cairn, but is a sweet, funny, loving girl who I couldn’t imagine the last 7 years without. I can’t stomach thinking about her at the puppy mill or some of the horrors she endured as a puppy. Puppy mills are a blight on all that is compassionate and decent and should be shut down completely and while I swore I would never support them, “rescuing” that one dog was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Thanks for writing this piece.

Amanda I TOTALLY agree. I can’t go in to pet stores either because my heart breaks for all of those poor animals. I have a Boxer and 4 cats and I LOVE them all. People who abuse and neglect animals are SICK and there is something seriously wrong with them. Like Gandhi said “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. We have a LONG way to go…

Completely agree. Pet stores make me want to cry. When I worked retail as a teenager I used to go to the pet store at crossgates and visit the parrot they had there. It used to pull its feathers out with its beak because it was depressed, so I tried to pay attention to it. It made me soooo sad.

I will never think of pet stores that sell dogs as good places every again. My family goes to Pet Smart- and they don’t sell dogs there. I like Pet Smart’s approach of bringing the dog with you to the store; it’s a very sweet idea. All of those animals in the pet store always look so sad- and their facial expressions make me feel awful about not adopting them.

My family’s dogs come from my aunt whose dog had puppies (once). We took 2 and they were for free since it’s from family.

Thank you for this post. Puppy mills should be outlawed, as should the practice of selling dogs in pet stores. There are so many dogs who need homes and reputable pet stores like Petsmart will not sell dogs and cats – they only deal with local shelters and rescue groups.

If I want to go to CVS I have to stay on the other side and stare at the stuff in Frederick’s of Hollywood until I pass the pet store. Eyes must be completely averted or I will dissolve into tears. Pet stores must be stopped.

I rescued my first ever dog Jordan from Mohawk Hudson Shelter in Scotia when she was 10 months old. She lived to be 18 1/2 years old. She was a mutt, best kind of dog to have. I miss her so very much but I am thankful I had all those years with her. I tell people all the time to go to a shelter to adopt a dog, paying thousands of dollars is just plain crazy.

My parents had to stop in a local pet store in upstate NY (actual upstate, not Westchester) and saw a lovely little golden retriever puppy. They/I love the breed and they had been meeting with Amish families to find their next pup. After thorough, and I mean THOROUGH research, it was found that the pup was indeed from an Amish farmer just west of my parents’ home. They purchased her. They purchased two more directly from the Amish farmer four years later.

So while I believe that most pups are from mills, I am happy to say that upstate NY pet stores do not all profit from heinous acts of mill owners.

I couldn’t agree with you more but I had to learn the hard way. I’ll never support a pet store again, knowing what I know now, but saying I regret buying my first dog from a pet store would be a disservice to the awesome dog and the sweet soul that he was. Like most pet store dogs, his health was an issue from the beginning. We didn’t know any better. We thought they were top bread dogs and hadn’t heard any of the puppy mill stories. We had to make the tough decision to end his suffering and lost him when he was too young. I light a candle for him every year on the anniversary of his death so he knows that I will always love him and never forget him.

My Annie is a rescue pup. She and her mother, brothers, and sisters were all abused and one of her brothers was even beaten to death with a shovel because he was sick and that horrible “man” did not want to take him to a vet. Still makes my stomach turn and my eyes well up with tears as I type this.

We’ll have Annie for two years at the end of June. She’s the most excitable and friendly pup I’ve ever met and I definitely can’t imagine life without her. Well, I can… but it’s be really boring! We will only adopt rescue dogs into our home from now on.

Thanks for sharing Henry’s story, and for adopting Moxie. We need more advocates for adoption, and too many people still believe that there’s something wrong with shelter pets. The reality is that many of them have been abandoned through no fault of their own, and many have been rescued from puppy mills.

Not just puppies, that particular pet store (and of course many others) is horrible for everything. They have a pretty big focus on various exotics, particularly Chinese chipmunks, flying squirrels, and some hedgehogs. The fact that you have a store with such a variety of exotics, and only teenagers that clearly know next to nothing about the animals working is atrocious.

I’ve noticed various problems with the enclosures or other things for the animals every time I’ve walked in there. The only people willing to buy exotics from that kind of place are going to be completely uninformed and irresponsible owners, because someone who cared would never buy the most likely poorly bred animals from such a crappy establishment. This business owner sells these animals knowing full well that the people who buy them will probably kill them accidentally, dump them on someone else, or some other undesirable outcome.

I don’t say this as someone who has exotics myself, I’m a little iffy on the topic and would never want one, but I know several people who do keep them and are far more responsible.

It’s very sad. I agree with the boycott of pet-stores from a strictly business standpoint (it keeps the puppy mills in business) and that its preferable to adopt an animal from a shelter…

…but the fact is pet stores exist, and what happens to the animals in the pet stores if they don’t get adopted? It seems like its morally laudable to provide a loving home and care to any formerly abused animal, whether it has a price tag or not. As they say, “all’s well that ends well.”

It is the system that is flawed — “puppy mills” continue to operate due to inadequate government resources being deployed to investigate/prosecute/prevent a business model that promotes animal cruelty, which is a crime.

My girl was rescued from a puppy mill. She was over bred at a young age, her story is so terribly sad I will spare it, but, she was rescued during a raid and now lives with me in her forever home. She is the most wonderful girl and I cannot imagine her in a day of pain! I am so happy to have her, but wish so much that she never had to endure her suffering. And to know it was all so she could produce income puppies for some selfish person who didn’t care about her well being or her offspring. I think I will get her something special for Mother’s Day to let her know how special she is and to honor her puppies wherever they may be!

Puppy mills suck. The conditions these poor dogs endure is awful. They are bred over and over again and then when they are no longer useful to the breeder, well you don’t want to know what they do with them. All in the name of the almighty dollar. I am still surprised how many people don’t know that they shouldn’t buy a dog from a pet store. My brother and his wife rescued two Cairn Terriers. One is from a puppy mill. It took two years for that poor girl to trust and she is still very, very shy around people. Back yard breeders also suck. Those are the supposed “breeders” that think they know what they are doing but don’t. One of my rescued Jack Russell terriers came from a back yard breeder. We rescued him when he was one year old. From day one we had health problems with him and they were all due to poor breeding and bad genetics from the parents. We informed this “breeder” but they didn’t care and kept on breeding. We lost this wonderful dog last February to pancreatic cancer. While it is not totally proven, we were told that because of poor breeding, our dog was most likely pre-disposed to the cancer. There are legitimate dog breeders out there and another one of my jacks came from one but now Rescue is my favorite breed! Keep spreading the word Amanda, great job!!!

I have read that the puppy mill trade is largely dominated by the Amish community. Lancaster county PA has the largest concentration of mills in the country. New York state is also becoming a magnet for puppy mills because of the lack of regulation.

I read an article in Oct 2011 @ GlobalAnimal.org about mall developer Macerich that has banned the sale of live animals from it’s 70+ malls across the country by not renewing the leases of any pet stores and replacing these stores with adoption centers for rescued animals.

Jango Davis, she didn’t imply or say anything the store is doing is illegal. She is just sharing her opinion on common pet store practices of purchasing puppies from puppy mills, which are known places where abuse, neglect, and inhumane practices take place.

Jango- there’s nothing that Amanda wrote that could get her in any sort of legal trouble. If she doesn’t like their business and writes about why she doesn’t like their business, she’s well within her right. If she makes stuff up and it negatively affects the business, well that’s a different story. But it didn’t happen in her post so there’s no reason to worry about it.

THANK YOU for bringing this horrible abuse out into the open. You should organize some type of picketing of these places. It is disgusting and immoral that these puppy mills are allowed to operate at all, let alone in a place like a mall. The abuse that God’s creatures have to put up with should result in criminal prosecution and extensive prison time for those inhumane “humans” who profit from this awful practice. My dogs are from the shelter, and although both my dogs were abused prior to their rescue by my family, the shelter cared well for them, not using them as a “commodity” to sell. THANK YOU for shedding some light this AWFUL practice.

Walked past there with my sister and daughter my daughter begged to go in an see bunnies. thank god she didnt notice (as mys sister and I did) that one of the bunnies had passed away. The young girl working did come over right away to take it out and played it off like it needed a bath but so not cool.

You’re exactly right Amanda but having said that what’s the best way to shut them down? Does it have to be town by town,county by county or what? This state needs a 5 year moratorium on selling dogs and cats –it’ll take at least that long to catch up to what we already have.If you could see how many great dogs and cats that are killed every year just to make room for the next batch at the shelters it’d make you sick.

btw,I wish just once a pet store owner would/could say the puppies I sell aren’t from a puppy mill and here’s where I get them from.They know and we know they all come from puppy mills–large and small.

Thank you for helping to educate, Amanda. Regarding JT’s comment, in general, the Amish are at best indifferent towards their animals (dogs and horses alike). Puppy mills, many of them Amish, are notoriously cruel, especially for the breeding moms. Until obscene overpopulation with correlative mass euthanasia (roughly 4 million dogs and cats will be put down at shelters this year) is brought under control, there can be no ethical purchase (whether from a pet store or private breeder/dealer) of an animal. Because states are extremely sensitive to business interests, change, if it is to come, must begin and end with the public. In that vein, sterilization and adoption should be the guiding tenets.

Nice article Amanda! We know the amazing Henry well and his wonderful mother. They shop at Dawgdom,our dog boutique in Saratoga & we absolutely love them! I hope for the day when PetStores that sell puppies go under. Educating the public is the first step, but then the public has to actually use that education to make the right decisions.

I’ve always wondered what exactly happens to the pups in the stores that don’t sell? Sickening! I’ll never understand why after so… many years of people complaining and hating pet stores that sell puppies/kittens, why don’t they just outlaw the whole practice? That way it would force the shut down of puppy mills!

I am not a fan of this particular store myself. We purchased a Degu from them, only to get her home and find out how much she missed her tank mate from the store – they are communal creatures and mate for life. We went back to the Rotterdam location and wsaw her mate going bonkers in his own tank. Employees (and by thepictures on their website, it was the owner) told us that if we purchased him, that when they bred (and they would OFTEN) they would take the babies in to sell. We agreed, as we would enjoy the little creatures and not have to worry about selling the babies. When our little furballs (Lucy and Desi) had their first litter of EIGHT we called the Rotterdam Everything Pets. We were told they would not take them, as they no longer wished to sell degus. We were stuck trying to find homes for 8 little ones, before they got too big and papa was fed up with them. They bred again, and again. We finally found homes for the babies and a licensed breeder to take in Lucy and Desi.

Mandi- I’m confused. Are you a breeder? WHY weren’t these animals spayed or nuetered? It is one thing to not keep them apart but a totally different thing to be careless and allow them to precreate THAT many times. I know nothing about Degus but perhaps you should have purchased 2 of the same sex to avoid this?

Also, it’s not easy finding someone to perform surgery SAFELY on a degus. Sure they can look it up online and give it a try, but I’d rather have someone who has done it before. (I had a vet say she could operate on my rat, but might kill it b/c she didn’t know how much anthesetic to give her, while charging $1000.)

The store was very negligent in putting a male and female together to begin with.

I was just in Colonie Center the other day and thought the same things! I could not agree with you more on this. It amazes me that there are still people who do business with mall pet stores. They’ve got to either be completely naive or just don’t give a cr@p. In this area there are SO many rescue groups and shelters where dogs are in need. Sadly, the people who purchase from pet stores are usually the same ones who drop them off at the shelter when ‘it doesn’t work out’. It’s disgusting.

#40, The ASPCA is the worst offender when it comes to the care of animals. I encourage you to read this blog, as well as all others listed under The Truth About ASPCA. http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?page_id=166

Thank you for writing this, Amanda. I wish there were more laws against puppy mills and breeding. Everytime someone buys their fancy designer breed, a rescue dog is killed. Rescue pets are the greatest pets a person will ever own!